by Gary Puleo

With the two Mount Carmels combining forces, some would say it's a match that could only have been made in heaven. The annual procession and street festival in honor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church's patron saint used to draw revelers from all over the area to the heart of Bridgeport every July for many decades until the church was closed in 2014. Similarly, on a different weekend in July, the parishioners of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Black Horse, which is still open but with limited services, held their own procession and feast.

The procession tradition has never been interrupted, but in recent years the big celebration never got off the ground there for various reasons. To keep the spirit of both festivals alive, more than 100 former members of the shuttered Bridgeport church have merged with the Black Horse parish, now a sister church to Holy Saviour Church in Norristown, to form the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Society.

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Source: http://www.timesherald.com/